Friday, September 03, 2010

Clean clothes in New Orleans

Laundrymat seems to be the most common spelling for what I would call a laundromat. There is a Laundryrama in the Vieux Carre. I would call this a laundr-o-rama. I've seen a laundryteria too. Again, where I come from, when you combine laundry with an ending, we generally substitute an 'o' for the 'y'. Keeping the 'y' is a sign of ignorance or lazy sign painting. Live and learn. I haven't heard anyone say "laundromat" out loud since I've moved to New Orleans but therein may lie the explanation.

No sightings of an al-night automat yet. Now that would be the bee's knees.

2 comments:

Anita
said...

"Keeping the 'y' is a sign of ignorance or lazy sign painting"

You might as well send that idea back where it came from. Creative naming and creative spelling are not only tolerated here, they are embraced, I'm afraid. I have some pet peeves that are hard to let go of but I long ago threw up my hands about how things are named. We have a snowball stand called "Queen of the Ball." There is, or was, a Splish Splash for washing, Smartwash, Cleanerama, Washing Well, Clothes Spin, Laundry Basket, Super Spin Cycle, Dirty Laundry, Super Suds, Laundromax, Spin Zone, Smart Wash.

The default is just as likely to be Washeteria as Laundromat. On Maple there is a laundromat with connecting doors into the Lebanese restaurant. Labna and Laundry; no that's not the name but it is the game.